MobileGo for iOS is the Ultimate iPhone and iPad Transfer Tool

If I had to pick my least favorite part of the iPhone, iPod, iPad ecosystem, it's all the ways Apple complicates making data portable. Instead of allowing you to easily move things between all the various devices you own, from computers, to tablets, to smartphones, Apple largely traps your content into a single iOS device and computer pairing. While it's not impossible to move songs from an iOS device to your computer, it's a big hassle.

MobileGo for iOS solves the headaches of moving data between your iPhone, iPad, iPod and any computers you may need to sync.

Managing Multiple iOS Music Libraries

Consider the scenario at my house, which I'm guessing is fairly common in other households too. I have an iTunes Store account and so does my wife. We manage them from separate computers, so the songs and movies we purchase are only synced to our respective devices.

When I'm driving the kids around, it never fails that they will want to listen to something that's only on their mom's phone and I'm sure the same thing happens to her.

With MobileGo, we can connect both of our iPhones to the same computer and combine our music libraries. We could also sync contacts, photos and other data between devices too.

Backup SMS Text Messages and Search with iMessage

I used to be skeptical about backing up iMessage SMS messages from my phone. Over time, I've changed my mind. There are some lengthy conversations in my iMessage that are just as useful as an email exchange. Apple backs up your iMessages as part of the complete iPhone backup, but you can't search those backups and you definitely can't export your messages. Here again MobileGo comes to the rescue. You can search all the messages on your phone,

Manage Contacts and Merge Duplicates

If you have contacts from multiple sources, it can be a mess to quickly find the correct info for the person you are trying to reach. The contacts on my iPhone are from a blend of 5 different sources, including multiple email accounts and Facebook. According to MobileGo, my phone currently has 76 duplicates. I can merge those duplicates making it easier to keep track of all the important people in my world.

MobileGo also allows you to sync your contacts with Microsoft Outlook or Windows Mail.

Convert Music and Videos for iPhone and iPad Playback

Depending on where you downloaded music and movie files from, you might not be able to play some of the files on your iOS device. MobileGo can convert those files (without deleting the original) so that any video or audio file can be played on your iPhone or iPad.

Keep Your iTunes and iOS Data in Sync

Another strong feature of MobileGo is the ability to keep iTunes and your iOS data in sync, without needing to have everything on your device from the same library. This speaks to the issue of Apple trying to tie one device to one iTunes library.

There have been times when I downloaded a iTunes movie to a computer that wasn't my "official" iTunes library. The result was a message from iTunes telling me it was going to wipe the library on my iPad and replace it with the library from the computer. Not a good scenario when what I really wanted was the movie and everything that was already on my iPad. MobileGo will merge both libraries, avoiding the issue of figuring out which devices should be synced.

Manage iOS Photo Libraries

The photos on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod are all visible as a mass storage device, like connecting an external hard drive. MobileGo puts a nice photo browser on top of this functionality so you can easily look at photos, copy them to your computer, and manage the ones you want to share between devices. My only complaint about photo management is I'd like to be able to click and "checkmark" the photos I want to copy, rather than holding down the CTRL button while I select a handful of photos, but that's a minor annoyance.

The Bottom Line on MobileGo

If you ever need to transfer your music library from an iOS device to a new computer, MobileGo is currently the easiest way to get the job done. If you want to sync the libraries between two (or more) devices, MobileGo makes it painless. SMS backup is rapidly becoming a must have feature - here again, MobileGo does a great job.

If those were the only features of MobileGo, it would be a must-have solution. And it does so much more that MobileGo for iOS really is the software Apple should be shipping with every iPhone, iPad, and iPod device. There's also a version of MobileGo for Android as well.